I'm not sure why Alan is so strongly attracted to the idea of buying coffee from Whole Latte Love. Most of the coffee they sell is roasted by someone else -- why buy through a middleman? As for the WLL branded coffees (which, to be fair, is what Alan was specifically asking about), speaking strictly from a personal perspective, I'd rather get my coffee from someone whose primary business is coffee roasting, and not selling coffee equipment. It isn't that the equipment retailer's coffee is automatically bad -- I enjoyed the "Black Pearl" I once got from Chris' Coffee Service -- but simply that I've received better (and fresher) coffees from people who specialize in coffee beans . . .

One of the reasons that roasters like Vivace, Klatch, Verve, Counter Culture, Intelligentsia, and -- yes -- Red Bird gain a national reputation in the first place is NOT that we have all traveled to Seattle, Southern California, Santa Cruz, North Carolina, Chicago, and Bozeman, Montana, but that that people come here (and on HB) and say, "Wow! have you tried this?"

hiI was surfing around and they had some bargains. About $10 a pound. As I noted above, I have enjoyed the coffee from Paradise Roasters, Lacolombe, and Chriscoffee. I have tried Klatch as well. I try to avoid exorbitant shipping charges. And I like to get a full pound when I can. Chriscoffee has been good to me and I have only good results with Black Pearl and their decaf.

In the FWIW Dept., we've had discussions re: cost before. Even at $15/lb., and pulling 18 gram doubles, your cost in terms of coffee is 60¢ per shot. Now, certainly $10/lb. is $5 less than $15, and every dollar counts, but -- IMHO, at least -- great coffee remains one of the great bargains left on the planet. For instance, I buy most of my coffee from Red Bird. My average cost per pound, delivered, is $14.29; @ 15.5 gram doubles, my cost per shot is just over 49¢.

I just got in a 1lb of buzzopolis and a pound of Malabar gold from WLL. My espresso machine should be here tomorrow, and I will be dialing in my machine. I divided the buzzopolis, but I also have a pound of Velton's Bonsi blend coming on wed. So I will give some reviews on the Malabar later this week, if I can pull a decent shot that is. The Malabar gold beans are very oily, but look great.

a few years back when I was spending more a year on roasted coffee than what my car was worth I ordered 10 lb of it, Back then I thought it had a simular flavor profile as Belle espresso from Klatch. I think I ordered it one time after that and thought the profile in the new batch had changed and didnt care for it as much. Since then I started to roast my own because of cost mainly, but will pick up a bag here or there either to compare with my own roast or if someone had a bag from somewhere that was outstanding I might grab a pound.

Malabar gold: Just tried it after getting it a few days ago. Overall not that impressed with it. I tried to drink it straight, and there was an off flavor to me. My system was dialed in, using a HX machine and shots at 26 sec for 2 (volume) oz shots. I think it would hold up quite well if you were a latte/cap drinker, but as straight shots I would pass. Also for 20+shipping a pound, I will probably never buy again. The beans are a bit oily and would not be great for superautos. Overall I would suggest buying other Fresh Roasted beans. You can defiantly find better value at a different vender. I also did not like the fact of no roast date. Makes it hard to tell how old the beans are. Just my two cents. For me not even in the same league as Velton's Twilight which I got at the same time. I froze the buzzopolis, and will pull out some next week sometime and let you know what I think of it.

I have about 85-90Lb's of Malibar Green that remain of the 100Lb bag I got from Dr. John. It is one of my favorites to be sure. It is a coffee that needs to be ground very fine .... almost to the point of oozing from the PF. It is also very sensitive to temperature. If I'm not mistaken it requires a temp of 207. I also believe that many of the roasters tend to roast this way too dark. I hit the cool cycle on the HotTop the moment I hear the first crack. There are no oils on my benas. Pull in really tight with a longer 30-35 second pull and ..... Heaven!

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